What's The Difference Between 16:9 and Panorama TV Display?

Question

I was just messing around with my display settings with my TV and digital set-top box because the picture was being cut off on the sides.

Anyway I tried Panorama and I realised there is no difference between it and 16:9 (from what I can see anyway).

So uh, what IS the difference?

Answer 1

16:9 is widescreen anamorphic with an aspect ratio of about 1.8 to 1.  The problem with this is that many movies are shot with a ratio of 2.35 to 1 (Panavision, CinemaScope, etc) and will display with black bars at the top and bottom of your screen.  The Pan display setting zooms in on this, reducing the black bars top and bottom, but losing a bit of the right and left sides of the picture.